CMS on Friday announced a grant opportunity for up to $30 million in funding and technical assistance for clinicians, health systems, and other stakeholders to develop quality measures over three years for MACRA's Quality Payment Program (QPP).
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Grant opportunity details
CMS said it is looking to use the new grant opportunity to partner directly with external entities to develop, improve, and update quality measures under QPP.
External entities eligible for the new grant opportunity include:
- Clinical professional organizations;
- Clinical specialty societies;
- Educational institutions;
- Independent research organizations;
- Health systems; and
- Patient advocacy organizations.
Kate Goodrich, CMS' CMO and director of the agency's Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, in a CMS blog post wrote, "By giving external entities needed resources to help guide their measure-development efforts though this funding opportunity, CMS can leverage the unique perspectives and expertise of these external entities, such as clinician and patient perspectives, to advance the [QPP] measure portfolio."
For instance, Goodrich wrote that partnerships formed under the new grant opportunity will help CMS to address areas such as:
- Clinician engagement;
- Consumer-informed decisions;
- Efficient data collection;
- Gaps in critical measures;
- Minimizing burdens on providers; and
- Quality measure alignment.
Goodrich wrote that CMS will particularly focus on developing measures for:
- Affordable care;
- Care coordination;
- Clinical care;
- Patient and caregiver experience;
- Population health and prevention, and
- Safety.
Goodrich wrote that CMS also will prioritize the development of outcomes measures, such as patient-reported outcomes and functional status measures, as well as measures of appropriate use of services, such as measures of overuse (Morse, Healthcare Finance News, 3/2; Goodrich, The CMS Blog, 3/2).
Mar. 27 webconference: Get straight on MACRA
Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) policies mandate pay-for-performance for Medicare clinicians in the Quality Payment Program’s (QPP) Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).
Join us for a webconference to learn how you can set a compliant path to QPP success.